Music's role in connecting time, place, and human experience

Music

In early childhood, I watched the shows on PBS like Sesame Street. I can still remember the songs that permeated my living room, teaching me how to count and spell. I do not know all the formal titles of the songs, but I can sing them almost all by heart. Elmo's songs, the alphabet songs, songs about everyone making mistakes that is okay: Sesame Street taught me a lot about social norms, music, counting, spelling, and words in Spanish, too. These early childhood lessons were instrumental in helping me grow as a person. Although I rarely if ever hear these songs now, I feel warm and happy inside when they come to mind. The Sesame Street songs reflect my childhood experiences because I had a happy childhood, in which learning was encouraged by my parents. Watching educational shows was a big part of my childhood.

During adolescence, it was a time of rebellion and finding my own voice. Therefore, it was suitable that the music I started to gravitate to was the music of rebellious generations prior to my own. At first, I got into listening to the Beatles. This was because my best friend's older brother had a lot of Beatles albums and other music from the 1960s and 1970s. The music was rebellious, talking about sex, drugs, and rock and roll. The sounds of the music, like Jimi Hendrix's guitar, were also rebellious in the sense that they were unlike any sounds that had gone before. Later, I started to listen to punk rock and grunge: both of which were also rebellious forms of music that reflected my adolescent identity. I was not a bad kid, but I could relate to the idea of rebellion from society. I wanted to find new ways of being, other than buying into the myth of materialism. Songs like Anarchy in the UK" by the Sex Pistols also opened my mind to political ideas, which I had never before given much thought to. Therefore, punk music had a big impact on the way I think and feel.

I listen to a lot of different types of music for pure comfort. The type of music I choose depends on my mood. Sometimes, I even listen to classical and jazz when I am not in a good mood because those types of music help me to calm my mind and study. Music that I associate with feeling good and comfortable includes electronica, and ambient music. For example, I like the songs by Ellen Alien and Autechre. The electronic music artists have a sense of texture that is unparalleled in other genres. I greatly appreciate turning off my mind to the world, and tuning in entirely to the music. Other conform music for me includes old rock and roll from the 1970s, such as Black Sabbath. The sounds of Black Sabbath make me feel happier than I did before I listened: especially from the first two albums: Black Sabbath and Paranoid. Beatles songs from the album Abbey Road and also Revolver can invoke a sense of comfort, because I know almost every note by heart. The effect is a lot like eating mac and cheese or grilled cheese: my comfort foods.